


To Complete The Set

by silveradept



Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 15:38:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8214602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: Lightning thought she was rescuing someone from a bad situation at the club. What she got into was much, much stranger.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [laughingpineapple](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughingpineapple/gifts).



Lightning tensed her fists as she settled into her stance. Perhaps challenging the taller, likely stronger, woman would turn out to be a mistake, but Lightning was used to making lopsided fights look easy for her. Guys thought girls were weak and easily handled, and that was why they usually fell quickly. Girls at least understood.

A flash of blue uniform nearby meant her opponent hadn't walked away from the fight. Hoping to take her by surprise, Lightning charged at the other woman at the end of the alleyway. She only barely registered the shift in balance indicating she had tripped in time to break her own fall, so that she ended up on her knees instead of her face. Popping back up onto her feet, Lightning tried to continue her attack, but found something holding one of her arms back, tugging just enough to unbalance her again, causing her to stumble. Wrenching her arm free, she felt like she had tripped over something else, and Lightning was on her knees again, looking down at the pavement. She jumped to her feet again to continue the charge, blood pounding in her head, and got a couple steps before something struck her firmly in the hip, followed by a pair of hands pulling her over into a firm throw, leaving Lightning sliding to a stop a short distance away, most of her skin raw from repeated scrapes.

Staying down seemed like a good option to Lightning at this point, since she couldn't seem to go two steps without falling. Taking stock of the situation, Lightning stared up at the short blue volleyball shorts and matching jersey of her opponent, still several feet away, with a smirk on her face before finally realizing who had turned her over - the unassuming woman in the pink cheer outfit that Lightning had rushed past, still assuming that she had needed protection. Still slightly dazed, an unconscious part of Lightning's mind registered the pink bloomers underneath the ruffled skirt as a matching shade, and rather cute, before their owner stepped out of view.

"Hah! She came all the same!" The volleyball woman was clearly amused at what had happened. "Not one to back down from a fight, are you," she said, smiling at Lightning and offering her a hand to get up with. 

Lightning stood up on her own, fairly certain the confusion she felt was written all across her face. Positioning herself so that she could see both of the other women, Lightning pointed at both of them in quick succession. "So you're not..."

"Hrm?" The cheerleader stared at Lightning with a curious look, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"You're not...having a fight with her," Lightning finished. She had seen the volleyball player dragging the cheerleader by her arm onto the dance floor in what looked like a painful grip. She had looked determined, the kind of determined Lightning had seen in many a jerk who thought his date was his property. The cheerleader had looked scared of something.

"Nope!" the cheerleader smiled, completely at odds with the expression Lightning had seen before. "Fang can be headstrong, and protective, and really, really intimidating, but she knows when to listen and where the line is."

Fang grinned at the description. "I get to be all of my best qualities, and Vanille here gets to be the soft and loving one who cares for everyone. It makes us a great couple."

Lightning didn't agree with that assessment at all, but the claim of those two being a couple got more evidence in its favor when Vanille ran over to Fang and gave her a full hug and kiss on the lips. After they kissed for a long time, Vanille draped herself off of Fang, looking like the token damsel whose job it was to get captured, be useless, and get dressed up in as little clothing as possible. Lightning usually made fun of those women when they appeared, but watching Vanille and Fang, there was a playfulness present that she hadn't seen before. Lightning decided they knew exactly how ridiculous they looked, and they did it anyway because it was fun. And, if she wanted to admit it to herself, the two of them did look like a pretty couple together, Fang exuding athleticism and a toned body and Vanille looking soft and curvy, even though Lightning knew now not to trust that appearance. It didn't help that Lightning was picturing Vanille in one of those "helpless damsel" outfits and realizing that Vanille had the body to make it look good.

"It also helps," Vanille said, with a little laugh, "if that soft and loving one-"

"-is the state champion in judo." Lightning concluded, finally recognizing why being thrown about like a ragdoll earlier felt so familiar.

"Yup!" Vanille flashed Lightning a cheesy grin as she climbed down from Fang. "It helps to be able to defend yourself if someone gets the wrong idea."

Fang laughed a slightly uncomfortable laugh and put her hand behind her head to rub it. "Not exactly my style. I'd much prefer swinging fists and feet, like you. But Vanille's had to patch me up one too many times when we do it my way, so we do it her way instead."

Vanille leaned in and kissed Fang on the cheek, and Lightning saw a little flicker of attraction cross Fang's otherwise mocking face. "So," Vanille continued, "what's your name?"

"Lightning," she said quickly, not wanting the conversation to stay on her very long. "So what was that on the dance floor, then? Getting dragged by the arm someplace you don't want to go doesn't sound like a happy relationship in any sort of way."

Fang tensed at the perceived insult, but Vanille put a hand out to stop her. Lightning only barely heard her say "Stay," but the _power_ Lightning heard in that word made something inside her pay attention. An image of Vanille using that word on her briefly flirted with her mind, but Lightning pushed it back down. She still didn't trust them enough to let her guard down, and there was no reason why she would want to fantasize about anyone telling her what to do. Other guys had tried that and been unpleasantly surprised when Lightning reminded them that consent was important in relationships.

"It's just a game we play," Fang said. "I flirt with her, ask her to dance, we go out to the floor and we put on a show for the boys. Sometimes somebody gets grabby and I get to hurt them. What were you thinking, calling me out like that?" Lightning had stepped in between the two women, shouting at Fang to get her hands off, which had quickly escalated into a shoving match before Fang laid down the challenge to meet her outside. Without Vanille's interference, Lightning was pretty sure she could have beaten Fang easily.

"If that's a game," Lightning retorted, "then I think she needs a better player than you." Lightning balled her fists again, ready to pound Fang into the ground anyway.

Vanille sighed, turned to Lightning, and rolled her sleeves up to show Lightning smooth, unmarked skin where Lightning had seen Fang grip her. "Satisfied now?" she said, very sweetly. Lightning considered what she was seeing, realized that any fight she provoked would be with both of them, and nodded, trying to keep her body from showing the tension she still felt too visibly.

"Fang would never hurt me," Vanille said as she rolled her sleeves back down. "Sometimes I get a little shy and need some convincing, but she wouldn't try to make me go anywhere I didn't want to."

"I don't think she believes you," Fang said, a hint of something playful behind her words. Lightning felt like she could hide her emotions pretty well. Was Fang just teasing her, or was there something there?

"Do you think she'd be convinced to come back in and dance with us?" Vanille asked, taking the hint and giving it life with an exaggerated whisper into Fang's ear, and a gentle caress of her cheek.

"I dunno," Fang said, pretending to size Lightning up. "I think she's the kind of girl that likes to watch, but she's too afraid to join in." Linking her arm in Vanille's, Fang and Vanille headed back toward the club. Fang threw a wink over her shoulder at Lightning, just to goad her further, and then gave Vanille's skirt a flip in the back, showing Lightning the same pink bloomers she had seen from a more intimate angle only a little while earlier.

Lightning had forgotten, after following them back into the club, that tonight, in addition to the Back-To-School theme, was Battle Night, when every pretender with a deck or a drum machine tried to win a pathetically small cash prize. To try and maintain the hype, though, the owners divided the dance floor into two halves and often tried to entice the dancers to act out the choices of each DJ. Lightning had dismissed the idea as trying too hard to create the attitude, and usually mocked those who bought into the hype. 

Vanille was delighted, of course. Fang saw the opportunity to needle Lightning about her inability to dance. Lightning refused to rise to the bait and fixed Fang with a glare. The DJ's choice for the first song, a forgettable pop tune with nothing interesting, brought Lightning's irritation to bear on him instead, but he waved her off with a gesture that could be interpreted as a request for patience.

When the second DJ joined in, Lightning understood why that song had been picked. In the gaps left by the uninspired pop tune, a complex breakbeat was developing. Vanille was grooving to the pop melody while Fang followed the other pattern around her, occasionally getting close enough for them to bump hips or share a spin. They looked like a practiced pair, Lightning admitted to herself. Maybe she had been wrong about Fang. 

The pop song abruptly cut out, replaced with something much more to Lightning's liking, matching the breakbeat pattern much more directly. Taking her cue, Lightning strode over to Fang's side and gave her a cut in that could have doubled as a textbook hip check, putting her face to face with Vanille, who beamed at her.

As the two DJs traded loops and cuts, creating a mashup that seemed to avoid being part of a single genre, Vanille seemed to tease Lightning with her dance steps. Every step Lightning took toward her, Vanille stepped back. Whatever Lightning did, Vanille did, mirroring her movements and always maintaining exactly a step's distance away from her. Lightning appreciated the ease in which Vanille was able to stay in sync, even as it frustrated her. The cheers of the crowd, thinking it was a planned routine, made Lightning try harder just to land a touch or get closer, but Vanille spun away from her and back into Fang's arms for a dip. 

The rest of the DJ battle went the same way. Vanille obviously favored Fang as a dance partner, and seemed to take enjoyment in keeping Lightning at arm's length. At the end of the set, Lightning stormed off the stage to the bar, while Fang and Vanille took a little bow and met with some fans to show them some moves before joining her.

"Wow. I could roast marshmallows off of you." Fang said quietly, after a few blissful minutes of silence had passed. Lightning turned to glare at them both. For a moment, Vanille's smile flickered, showing some other mood, before her cheery self reasserted itself. She leaned in to Lightning, positioning herself so that her chest almost touched Lightning's.

"You're a really good dancer, you know," she nearly purred in her ear. "Both Fang and I think you're cute, too."

"What?" Lightning pulled her head back, confused. "I'm not..." Realizing what she had been staring at the entire time, she turned her head away from Vanille, reddening with embarrassment. 

"Of course," Vanille said, straightening up a little. "But you want to protect me, don't you? From the big, bad, Fang?" Vanille kissed Fang, who still had a cocky grin on her face, on the cheek. "Who _knows_ what we'll get up to if you're not there to stop her." Vanille detached herself from Fang and headed toward the exit, putting a little extra sway in her hips to give something for them both to look at. Images, sounds, and film trailers played in Lightning's head as she tried desperately to get rid of the brainworm Vanille had planted in her head, her embarrassment growing as her mind refused to let go of the increasingly salacious details of just what they could do.

Fang's voice brought her back to her own self. Whatever she had said, it was clearly a goodbye and a boast about what she was going to do. "Not without me," Lightning muttered, and followed Fang out into the night.

They were waiting for her, like they had been at the beginning of the night. But instead of a rough street, they were in a city park and surrounded by grass and trees. Lightning started counting the places that people could hide as she approached the couple.

"Oh, you came!" Vanille cried, and ran up to Lightning and threw her arms around her, kissing her on the cheek with the same intensity she had just been kissing Fang with.

"There are some ground rules, though," Fang said, closing the distance between them and crossing her arms. Lightning looked ready to protest, but Vanille put a finger on her lips and said, "Lightning, _hush_." The emphasis was slight, like it had been earlier, but Lightning understood it as the order it was. Lightning hushed.

"That's the first rule," Fang said.

"It is not," Vanille retorted, giving Fang a look of annoyance before smiling warmly at Lightning. "But good women do get rewarded." Vanille gave Lightning another cheek kiss. "Are you in a relationship?" she asked. Lightning shook her head no, not trusting her voice to be able to make noise after she had been hushed so easily. Something about the way Vanille had said it had found a shortcut through her barriers and struck her in a way that demanded compliance.

"Any partners at all?" Vanille asked. Lightning shook her head again.

"You can talk to me, you know," Vanille said, breaking the spell on Lightning's voice. She drew in a breath, but before she could say anything, Vanille's lips were on hers, and the only thing that Lightning could think about after that were her lips. They were soft, tasted faintly of strawberries, and they were slowly insisting that she yield to the promise of a very good time with her. Lightning's mind resisted the idea, and she pulled away from the kiss before it could overwhelm her, almost hitting Fang as she stumbled and flailed away from Vanille.

Fang caught her gently, all traces of her bravado gone. Hugging Lightning to her chest, Fang made reassuring sounds. "It's okay," she murmured. "Vanille had that effect on me, too." Lightning shuddered in Fang's embrace, turning in to get instinctively. "She makes it seem easy, doesn't she?" Fang continued. "There's something about her that makes you believe it will be easy." Lightning nodded, and Fang helped her get steady on her feet again.

"It's your choice if you want to join us, Lightning," Fang told her.

"Claire," Lightning said, making a decision.

"Hmmmmm," Vanille said, contemplating the new information. "No. I like you better as Lightning, my swift protector." Vanille leaned in to Lightning and gave her another kiss, focusing her attention. Lightning didn't know how long the kiss lasted, and she didn't care, so long as there would be more kisses in the future.

Vanille and Fang started for the exit. After a few steps, Vanille turned over her shoulder to look at Lightning, still in a daze from the kiss.

"Lightning," Vanille called, letting some steel drop into her voice, " _come_."

Lightning obeyed, falling into step next to Fang, behind Vanille, into the place that felt like it was always there for her. Lightning would wait to tell them that Vanille's order had been obeyed in more than one way. She had had more than enough of Fang teasing her for one night.


End file.
